File #4276: "Transcription"

Transcription

Jillian Craven
Transcription of Interview with E. Curtis Delawder
JILLIAN CRAVEN: So my name is Jillian Craven, and I am with Curtis Delawder, and we are talking
about Bird Haven, the date is March 24th. So what is your relationship to Bird Haven?
CURTIS DELAWDER: Well my grandfather used to own part of the property that is now part of Bird
Haven. Uh, the greenhouse down by the creek at the lower end, it’s not in very good shape right
now, it’s falling down, he owned that, and then Bird Haven absorbed three or four different
properties after they closed the plant. Uh, we have relatives that worked there, but I’m not…you
know, like the…Stuart and Barb, their son lives right across the road, Stuart and his wife both
worked there. I remember going on down there when I was a little boy and I’d sit for hours
watching Stuart in the, working on the wood lathe, making bowls and stuff like that. Uh, I’d just
sit there and watch…uh, because I was nosy.
J.C.: So your grandfather owned the land, and then your father also worked in Bird Haven as well…
C.D.: He worked next to Bird Haven on the Alum. He worked for the Alum Springs Hotel and that
property which adjoins Bird Haven, so he didn’t actually work for the uh, what was it,
Shenandoah Community Workers I believe it was. He didn’t actually work for them. But Tom
seemed to think I had some knowledge of the Bird Haven basically. I was a kid going down
there watching...uh…it was just unreal to me as a young kid living out here in the boonies, to
watch ‘em making this furniture and bowls and stuff like that out of a piece of wood.
JC: And you said you used to mow the lawn for them as well?
Cd: I did. When I was in high school, uh it was probably just before they closed the plant, I mowed the
lawns, tended the garden, I might’ve been 13…13 or 14, for the owners but I never worked in
the plant.
JC: So can you recall for me what the general layout of the plant was, then?
CD: Well that little—well we had the showroom and the post office, and that little block building was
where Stuart’s lathe was, and then across from that was I think the finishing where they did the

shellacking and whatever. Uh, that big long block building, uh, they had machines in there for
gluing the wood and stuff to put it all together, but uh, I didn’t spend much time in that section.
JC: Um, so you mentioned “the lathe” what exactly does that entail?
CD: what?
JC: A lathe?
CD: Lathe! There are wood lathes, there’s metal lathes, and you put a block of wood on ‘em and you have
tools that you use to cut it and trim it down, uh, like you see these table legs that are, uh,
Elizabethan? Is that—you know, where their funny shaped or whatever, uh that—they cut those
with a lathe. Nowadays I think they just use a plastic mold but they used to make little like,
milking stools, uh…magazine racks, uh, big salad bowls and then they’d have forks and spoons
to mix the salad with and stuff. Uh, before—originally, when they first started and I wasn’t
aware of this until uh Leslie and her husband bought the property and I was down there one day
nosing around with them, uh, they started out making crossword puzzles. They were wooden
crossword puzzles, back before the war, and—of course I wasn’t born until the war was almost
over so I wouldn’t know anything about that.
JC: That’s so interesting, so what were some of the more prominent or common jobs then would you say,
were they lathes, or, um—
CD: Well they were—you had people that uh, glued, and uh, I think Stuart was the only lathe operator, I
think his wife worked in finishing, uh Sarah. And, let’s see, what was, there was, a James Barb I
believe that worked in the uh, building where they glued all the stuff together where they
assembled. And of course they, you know, they had to sand and finish the wood before it was
varnished and whatever but, I really don’t know that much about their procedures.
JC: And you said your father worked at the Alum Springs—
CD: Hotel.
JC: What was the relationship that the hotel, or resort/hotel had with Bird Haven? And were they fairly
close? I know that there were a lot of resorts in the area.

CD: Well they joined each other, ha ha, I mean I don’t know, um, uh, the Alum Springs Hotel they had
uh, Alum Springs, but there’s also an arsenic spring just inside the Bird Haven property line. Uh,
I found that out when I was doing some work for the, uh, census back in the late eighties. Um, I
think they know where it is, but ha ha ha you don’t want to let the animals get anywhere near to
it.
JC: Were there outside elements, like whatever was going on with the war or certain politics that effected
Bird Haven at all would you say?
CD: I’m sure it had some effect on it, but uh, I wouldn’t have any personal knowledge of what that
might’ve been. I know that the Alum Springs Hotel, shut down the hotel and turned it into a
chicken house. I mean, a three-story chicken house with an elevator. Umm, that was uh,
probably in the early forties that they did that.
JC: And how long had Bird Haven been operating for? Or was operating for, would you say?
CD: Ha ha, I have no idea, it was always there—I remember it. Uh, they used to make uh, little boats, uh
those uh… I don’t know what you’d call them like a little windmill on a stick? Uh…and uh,
stuff like that, early on. The only reason I know that is because they had a bunch of ‘em stored in
an old barn just on the other side of the plant. Uh, they always called it the Dodge Barn, but I
have no idea why, evidently it was the owners of it before Bird Haven bought it.
JC: Do you remember why Bird Haven closed or if there was a specific reason?
CD: I guess it was just economics. Well the owners were getting old and uh, I mean the, the demand for
wooden salad bowls and milking stools and stuff like that I guess, it just wasn’t there, I don’t
know, uh, I don’t remember a whole lot about why it closed I don’t even remember when it
closed.
JC: Do you, or can you recall for me what the sense of community was like around Bird Haven? Would
you say it was close knit or…
CD: --Oh I’m sure it was close-knit but there wasn’t that many people around here. Um, when Bird
Haven was in operation…(recalling under his breath) one…two…three…four…maybe

five…six…When Bird Haven was in operation from here to Bayse, there were four houses—no
I’m sorry five, because there was one out there by (*incomprehensible name but I think Ortney
Gray*). So take a look now at how many houses there are between here and the Ortney Gray.
Uh, so the people that worked there lived fairly close because not everybody had a car. Uh, and a
lot of people relied on the postmaster for a ride here or there if they needed to go to town, they’d
ride with the postman, the mailman, to town or whatever. Uh, so the—it was a close-knit
community, everybody worked together at that time. If somebody had a car and was going to
town, they’d stop at the neighbors to see if they wanted anything or needed anything from town
while they were going. So you know, everybody helped everybody out.
JC: Do you have—what’s your most prominent memory or your favorite memory of going to Bird
Haven?
CD: Watchin’ Stuart workin’ on the lathe. I mean that was—Like I said, in the summertime, when I was
young, maybe eight, nine, ten years old, I’d go down there and sit for hours. Maybe I didn’t
spend a whole lot of time in the rest of the plant because maybe they didn’t put up with me for
being so nosy asking questions and stuff. But Stuart was always—he didn’t seem to mind me
watching him.
JC: Did people stay even after Bird Haven closed? Did people stay in the area or did they move farther
away?
CD: I don’t think anyone left the area because Bird Haven closed.
JC: Did they get other jobs that were similar to what they did?
CD: Probably not. ‘Cause I don’t know of anything, any plants or anything around here that did that type
of work.
JC: And so, your grandfather and your father what did they do after Bird Haven closed?
CD: Same thing, my grandfather he owned that farm down there by the greenhouse and this ridge down
through here, and he owned this house and property up here on the corner on the turn, and he
farmed and did most of it with horses. My dad, he worked, for the hotel, well the poultry

division of the Alum Springs Hotel. He took care of their chickens, ‘cause after they turned the
hotel into a chicken house they built two other buildings as chicken houses. But I don’t know
that that really had any impact or that Bird Haven really had any impact on what they did.
JC: So would you say—you were showing me a video earlier of what they would show at the theatre, is
that something that you would do for fun as well?
CD: (turns to his computer) Uhh, by the time I was old enough to go out there the swimming pool was in
disarray, I mean they didn’t maintain it. At one time it was a big swimming pool, creek fed so it
was always cold. But uh, that was always part of the trip, you know. I had this—Halibut Springs
is the little gazebo out there (turning to me) did you get both those pictures? (Pointing at a
picture) Right here. This was Halibut Springs. And of course like most it was supposed to be a
healthful thing and that’s what this commercial is supposedly about—he had a bunch of glasses
of water from the springs and threw his canes away and run off.
JC: So the springs were supposed to be all-healing, all-powerful?
CD: Right. And of course, Bird Haven is just across the fence from them so maybe they had some of the
benefit from the springs, but this is the swimming pool. And I think this was in 1941, so it’s
almost been….let me go back to the swimming pool…
JC: So were there other kids in Bird Haven primarily?
CD: Well yeah. So Stuart and Sarah lived right there across from the main house down over at Bird
Haven and they had…three children. They were down there. Theodore Barb lived between here
and Bird Haven on down the hollow, he had five or six children. Poke and Louise lived in the
greenhouse, they had four or five children. I forgot about a house down the hollow here, a log
cabin…five children there. So there were a lot of kids around. The school bus between here and
Bayse loaded up.
JC: And did the kids ever help out at Bird Haven or was it more just adult jobs?
CD: It was more or less adults, I don’t think any, there were never any children that worked there I don’t
believe.

JC: I didn’t know if there were any odd jobs like sweeping up or something.
CD: No I don’t think so, I was probably the youngest one working there and that was mowing the lawns
and weeding. I never saw any kids around because it was dangerous equipment they weren’t
gonna let any children hang around. It’s a wonder Stuart let me hang around the lathe.
JC: And were you ever able to see some of the toys that were made there?
CD: Well yeah, because we used to find them and take the boats down and float them down the creek.
And the windmills and whatever but, that barn had fallen down around stuff that they had stored
out there, I guess it was stuff they couldn’t sell or whatever, and after the plant closed down or
whatever, neighbor boys would go down there and get these boats and stuff and we’d float ‘em
down the creek.
JC: Were there any aspects from Bird Haven’s society that differ from today’s society would you say?
CD: *long pause* Bird Haven society was just the normal society for the life’s times of that era. Just like
this is the lifetime, lifestyle of this era. You know, it just, the people have adjusted to the area
and the times. It just is a lot different—everybody’s got a car, everybody’s got a television set.
When Bird Haven was up hardly anybody had a car hardly anybody had a television set.
Television came out what, was it just before the fifties? Early fifties? So uh television was just
coming out when Bird Haven was closing down.
JC: You also mentioned they were called the Shenandoah Community Workers as well.
CD: That was the name of the plant I believe.
JC: Okay so that was the name of the plant, but Bird Haven was the name as well I believe?
CD: Bird Haven was the name of the community I guess, or the property just like the Alum Springs Hotel
or Bayse, Conicville, that was the name of the area. I don’t ever recall that there was any stores
or anything like that around Bird Haven, but the post office was there. And I’m not even sure
why it was called Bird Haven. When—I can’t remember the name of the people who owned it—
when they closed the plant down they sold the property to a retired army colonel Ham. Ham then
purchased, well he owned the property where the greenhouse was on, then he bought Bird Haven

then he bought Theodore Barb’s place, then he bought some other to put it all together as Bird
Haven. Then Colonel Ham sold it to the developer who developed some of it, he used the main
house for a sales office. He didn’t develop a whole lot of Bird Haven, he did put, he took about
twenty acres of it up by the road that they divided and put houses on but…now I done forgot
your original question…
JC: What was the difference between the Shenandoah Community Workers and Bird Haven?
CD: Shenandoah Community Workers was located at Bird Haven. Supposedly it was a bird sanctuary but
at that time I remember passing through a lot of towns that had signs that said they were a bird
sanctuary. And you still see a lot of them in West Virginia I believe you know you got “Bird
Sanctuary” when you come into the town. I have no idea why it was called Bird Haven. Why
was it called Bayse? Or Conicville? Or Jerome? It goes too far back. You know my ancestors
built the road across the mountain for homestead but didn’t give it a name.
*Phone Rings*
CD: Let me see who this is, do you mind?
*First recording stops, second begins*
JC: Are there any memories that you have about Bird Haven that you think would be essential to us
recreating it?
CD: Not really. I can’t think of anything, like I said my best memories were watching Stuart.
JC: And did you learn anything through watching Stuart and going to Bird Haven?
CD: Oh I’m sure I did. I didn’t learn how to use a lathe. But when we were young, every weekend,
especially on Sundays a bunch of us kids would get together and we would just roam around. I
mean, we had these whole mountains, not a care in the world to roam over. And it was all
learning experience, everything we did or every place we went there was something to be
learned. Just walking across the street you could learn things. Anything in particular or special? I
couldn’t pin that down.
JC: With this project, what would you prefer Bird Haven’s legacy to be?

CD: *long pause* I personally I appreciate the things they’re doing to restore the buildings and stuff to
what it was, I think that there’s a lot of history there but unfortunately most of the people who
made that history are no longer with us. I’m glad to see them restoring the buildings, I would
like to see them put to some use. I mean, what good is a building if it’s not going to be used, but
then again that’s a big undertaking to restore those buildings to what they were. I don’t know but
I see that furnace falling apart out here, the side wall falling down and I’m so disappointed that
that’s happening I hate to see it. But I hate to see all these old, big old barns on these farms and
stuff falling in disrepair and being allowed to fall apart. I bought a farm just to get the barn. It’s
one of those big old barns and the timber’s just a log. And I’ve spent, well, what I’ve spent is
irrelevant, trying to restore it and preserve it, ‘cause I don’t want to see it fall down, I don’t want
to see it destroyed.
JC: Would you say that your father and your grandfather enjoyed their time working on the resort and
with Bird Haven?
CD: *laughs* Well, I don’t know if enjoy is the proper word. It was a way of life. It was an available way
of life. And in that day and age, you used whatever you could find, whatever was available. But
I think, isn’t that the same thing we have today? We use what is available? Are you being paid
for this? You’re doing it as a hobby or as a class project?
JC: A class project.
CD: A class project, okay. But you will be paid for it then won’t you? You’re gonna get grade, alright?
Are you enjoying it? I hope you are.
JC: It has been really fun to learn more about Bird Haven.
CD: Well I have more about the community and the area than I have about Bird Haven itself, but it was
always a part of the community.
JC: Would you consider Bird Haven to be, and the Shenandoah Community Workers to be particularly
successful when they were at their peak?

CD: Oh I’m sure they were or they wouldn’t have lasted that long. I mean, they changed their production
to go along with the times. You know they started with crossword puzzles, then to little toys,
then to furniture and salad bowls and stuff like that so they had to adapt to the times. And that’s
what the community has done that’s what Bird Haven has done, is adapted to the times.
JC: Do you have any last-minute or additional comments or things you would like to have shared about
Bird Haven?
CD: No other than I’m glad to see them restoring the buildings and stuff though I hope they can put them
to use.
JC: And how would you want them to be used in that sense? Would you like it to go back to their—
CD: Well I don’t think there will ever be a demand for the hand-made salad bowls…
JC: They’re beautiful I mean I’ve seen them they’re beautiful.
CD: They did make some beautiful stuff there’s no doubt about it. But after they closed the Shenandoah
Community Workers, the Mervin Dellanger out there opened a plant to make basically the same
stuff they were making at Bird Haven previously. And he opened a store there, but that didn’t
evidently turn out too well he turned the plant into a pallet-manufacturing shop to manufacture
pallets and apple crates, the big apple crates, so he wasn’t making any money on salad bowls.
*laughs* you had to adapt.
JC: Well thank you so much for answering some of the questions that we had
CD: I don’t know that it would be very helpful…
JC: You gave us a different side from what we have seen before.